Abstract
This is an outstanding volume containing ten contributions, a substantial editorial introduction, bibliography and index. It has been organised in two parts. Part I examines changes in American missions and part II looks particularly at major outcomes these changes led to in missionary encounters in the Middle East. The papers here stem from the discussions in the Middle East Studies Association in Washington DC and Boston over 2 years and encompass the areas that were part of the erstwhile Ottoman Empire (though not in any sense representing all the regions in it).
Until relatively recently, American interests in the world were not seen to be akin in any real sense to Europe’s. The recent American engagements in the Middle East seem to be contributing to a revision of this view, but this work shows that unlike the image of missionaries and mission movements led by Europeans, the American missionaries of the 19th and early 20th centuries have generally not been considered ‘imperialistic’. This is because the American missionaries, sans the trappings of empire, represented the most benign and culturally and religiously enlightened face of America.
Clearly, despite emerging from a single nation and being rooted in the revivals in the 18th/19th centuries, American missions were neither mono-cultural nor mono-denominational. What afforded them the greater degree of flexibility and ability to be creative was their sense of interior spirituality as opposed to rigid creedal boundaries; greater appreciation of the varied cultural contexts of mission; and the lack of excessive pressure to conform to past traditions.
The examples of ‘change’ in the part containing papers on the consequences of missionary encounters show a complex picture of American missions – one that was not averse to revising strategy/approach to suit the local needs and what they saw as the success of their mission. The broader picture that emerges reveals that not only were American missionaries/missions changed through their interaction with the contexts (such as is seen in the increasing ‘secularisation’ and ‘feminisation’ of mission), but that these missions also met local needs in ways it would not have been possible if they remained inflexible.
Two brief examples should suffice. The first one is based on Carolyn Goffman’s paper ‘From Religious to American Proselytism’. This paper shows that not only Mary Mills Patrick but also her American board experienced a change in their aim: from ‘mass conversion’ to ‘a more idiosyncratic faith in post-imperial nation building’ (pp. 84–121). The second example is based on Beth Baron’s paper on ‘comparing missions: Pentecostal and Presbyterian Orphanages on the Nile’ which shows that two different American missions (Presbyterians and Assemblies of God) working in the same region conceived their mission rather differently (pp. 260–284) – one aiming to equip orphaned girls to become ‘good wives’ and the other promoting girls’ education at the highest levels for possible equal opportunities.
I would recommend this highly to missiologist/mission historians and the students of Christian history.